 | The Shorter Poems of Ralph Knevet |  |
[38] Devotion
While that my knees doe bowe unto my God,
And my officious tongue doth pray,
My heart seduced by some fancyes odde,
Doth wander quite another way:
(Lord) chaine my heart, with feare, and love,
That it may not at randon rove:
And my officious tongue doth pray,
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Doth wander quite another way:
(Lord) chaine my heart, with feare, and love,
That it may not at randon rove:
Thy essence seemes triangular (oh God)
And such the cell is of my heart:
Vouchsafe therein t'establish thine abode,
And let thy vertue fill each part,
Let not my Sinne, keepe Thee aloofe,
But daigne to dwell beneath my roofe.
And such the cell is of my heart:
Vouchsafe therein t'establish thine abode,
And let thy vertue fill each part,
Let not my Sinne, keepe Thee aloofe,
But daigne to dwell beneath my roofe.
I bowe my knees, erect mine hands, and eyes
To Thee; but These (without an heart)
Are but a vaine unseason'd sacrifice;
Like that, which made the Ethnickes start,
Who in their profane victimes fear'd,
Ill lucke, when there no heart appeared.
To Thee; but These (without an heart)
Are but a vaine unseason'd sacrifice;
Like that, which made the Ethnickes start,
Who in their profane victimes fear'd,
Ill lucke, when there no heart appeared.
| The Shorter Poems of Ralph Knevet | |